My diocese is planning a pilgrimage for next Saturday to another part of town. I’d love to go and bring my oldest son but I’m too dang busy. Years ago, I made the one-day trip … and it’s a very long day.
http://www.dioceseoftrenton.org/department/news_detail.asp?newsid=2222

No evidence of the 2 million number? I can’t find it anywhere….

My church is having prayer vigils because “We believe Health Care is a basic human right.”
Biblical and Theological Context
The United Methodist Church in its Social Principles regards healthcare as a basic human right, as well as a responsibility both public and private. As the position of the Church elaborates: “We encourage individuals to pursue a healthy lifestyle and … also recognize the role of governments in ensuring the each individual has access to those elements necessary to good health.” (Social Principles, ¶162T)
The United Methodist Church’s General Conference has also passed a number of health-related resolutions elaborating on the importance of health care for all, and some of the significant issues that keep us from realizing this principle. Healthcare in the United States is beset by three central interlocking problems – cost, access, and quality. Because of deficiencies in the current system, Americans as a whole receive poorer health care than other industrial countries that spend only half as much. The most visible problem is the 46 million Americans who have no health insurance.
Scripture references: Luke 10:25-35 and Ezekiel 34:4.
We are also organizing calls and letter to Congress.
http://tinyurl.com/m68fbp
In Matthew 25, Jesus says if we do not help the sick, we will not have eternal life.

“health care for all”
The current bills do not provide for health care for all, millions will still not have health care after it’s passed. You may think it’s our Christian duty to provide health care for all but I believe that given the quality of care nations who provide care for their citizens, that substandard care isn’t very Christian.

And NO are is Christian?

Sorry, that should have read…And NO care is Christian?

Michele said, “The current bills do not provide for health care for all, millions will still not have health care after it’s passed. You may think it’s our Christian duty to provide health care for all but I believe that given the quality of care nations who provide care for their citizens, that substandard care isn’t very Christian.”
I have not seen figures for the number of individuals that will not be insured under the current bills. I do know there has been discussion about mandates. It does not make sense to say we should not increase the number of insured because there many still be some individuals that are not insured.
Michele’s statements about “substandard care” have been debunked many times; however, she and those at the Tea Parties continue to make the claim that Obama wants to take away what they currently have. The irony is Obama wants to do the opposite.
What Obama wants to do is stop the health care industry from making huge profits at our expense. During the last 10 years health insurance premiums have increased more than 100%. Has your income increased 100%? Premiums are projected to increase about 110% during the next 10 years. The profits for the major health insurance companies have gone from a few million 10 years ago to several billion in 2007. Many members of Congress receive large sums from the health industry, which includes both parties
HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANY PROFITS IN 2007:
• UnitedHealth Group — $ 4.654 BILLION. UnitedHealth Group owns Oxford, PacifiCare, IBA, AmeriChoice, Evercare, Ovations, MAMSI and Ingenix, a healthcare data company
• WellPoint — $ 3.345 BILLION. Wellpoint owns BLUES across the US, including Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wisconsin, Empire HealthChoice Assurance, Healthy Alliance, and many others
• Aetna Inc. — $ 1.831 BILLION
• CIGNA Corp — $ 1.115 BILLION
• Humana Inc. — $ 834 million
OECD Health Data 2009
How Does the United States Compare
Health Care Reform in the United States
10-Feb-2009
David Carey, Bradley Herring and Patrick Lenain
In spite of improvements, on various measures of health outcomes the United States appears to rank relatively poorly among OECD countries. Health expenditures, in contrast, are significantly higher than in any other OECD country. Total health spending accounted for 16.0% of GDP in the United States in 2007, by far the highest share in the OECD. Following the United States were France, Switzerland and Germany, which allocated respectively 11.0%, 10.8% and 10.4% of their GDP to health. The OECD average was 8.9% in 2007.
The United States also ranks far ahead of other OECD countries in terms of total health spending per capita, with spending of 7,290 USD (adjusted for purchasing power parity), almost two-and-a-half times greater than the OECD average of 2,964 USD in 2007. Norway follows, with spending of 4,763 USD per capita, then Switzerland with spending of 4,417 USD per capita.
Resources in the health sector (human, physical)
Despite the relatively high level of health expenditure in the United States, there are fewer physicians per capita than in most other OECD countries. In 2007, the United States had 2.4 practising physicians per 1,000 population, below the OECD average of 3.1.
There were 10.6 nurses per 1 000 population in the United States in 2007, which is slightly higher than the average of 9.6 across OECD countries.
The number of acute care hospital beds in the United States in 2007 was 2.7 per 1 000 population, lower than the OECD average of 3.8 beds.
Health status and risk factors
Most OECD countries have enjoyed large gains in life expectancy over the past decades. In the United States, life expectancy at birth increased by 8.2 years between 1960 and 2006, which is less than the increase of almost 15 years in Japan, or 9.4 years in Canada. In 2006, life expectancy in the United States stood at 78.1 years, almost one year below the OECD average of 79.0 years. Japan, Switzerland and Australia were the three countries with the highest life expectancy.
Infant mortality rates in the United States have fallen greatly over the past few decades, but not as much as in most other OECD countries. It stood at 6.7 deaths per 1 000 live births in 2006, above the OECD average of 4.9. Among OECD countries, infant mortality is the lowest in some of the Nordic countries (Iceland, Sweden and Finland), Luxembourg and Japan, with rates between 2 and 3 deaths per 1 000 live births.
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/46/2/38980580.pdf
The Commonwealth Fund http://tinyurl.com/lb9n4p (click on link for International Health Survey)
Check the statistics below that compare International health care issues:
the US was the worse in every category – what an embarrassment to a country were many citizens still think the US is a superpower. We are quickly losing our status in the world
The UK was the best or close to the best in every category
http://www.commonwealthfund.org
Small Business Owners and Employees Would See Lower Costs, Better Health Coverage from Health Reform Proposals
September 9, 2009 – Small business owners and employees are among those who stand to benefit the most from provisions in some of the current health reform proposals under consideration by Congress, according to this Commonwealth Fund study.
Statement from Karen Davis: New Census Data on Uninsured Americans
September 10, 2009 – Today, the Census Bureau released the latest data on the number of Americans without health insurance. The number of uninsured individuals rose from 45.7 million in 2007 to 46.3 million in 2008. This increase of 0.6 million would have been much worse without a growth in government-provided insurance of 4.4 million, including a 3.0 million increase in coverage under Medicaid.
Health Insurance COST
http://www.kff.org/insurance/index.cfm

Politico on today’s Tea Parties, “The common thread among the speakers, both the politicians and the leaders of various conservative groups, many of them with a libertarian tilt, was an assertion of American decline, and that the assembled protesters were the nation’s best hope of correcting course and reconnecting with its traditional values.”
The individuals on the right are protesting against their own best interest. It is too bad they do not realize that the media (Fox, Limbaugh, etc.) that promote the events are doing it to make money – not because they are concerned with the welfare of the individuals or of the country. Everyone should listen to President Obama’s Monday speech on financial regulatory reform. They should be angry about the following very detailed information about the significant increase in the percent of income by the wealthy few at the expense of the rest of us:
In Sickness and in Wealth
How America’s rising income inequality figures in to the debate over health care.
By Eliot Spitzer
The debate about bank bailouts and health care is missing a critical piece of context: The American economy hasn’t been working for the working- and middle class for decades. It is impossible to determine who should pay for what or whether it is “fair” to ask the wealthy to contribute more to the health care of those who are uninsured, without better understanding the winners and losers in the U.S. economy over the past several decades.
One of the great accomplishments of the American economy, or at least the mythology so claims, is the creation of an enormous middle class after World War II. Americans all shared in the wealth generated by the most dynamic economy the world had ever seen. At one end of the economic spectrum, we reduced the number of people living in poverty, while at the other end, we applauded those whose work benefited the entire economy.
Between 1947 and 1967, this was a somewhat accurate image, as the distribution of income made the population look more and more like a bell curve with each passing year. Yet since 1967, this story has reversed course. For more than 40 years, income has been distributed less equitably. As we consider the policy remedies to crises that are of immediate impact—such as the crisis in health care or in our financial system—it is critical to understand the larger arc of this socioeconomic narrative. How we think of distributing the costs of reform should be informed by this larger story.
…
The top 1 percent of all income earners garnered 21.8 percent of all income in 2005, up from 8.9 percent in 1976.
…
But the significance of this 40-year cycle of income distribution may be playing out most clearly in the context of health care. One of the current debates is how to pay for the costs of expanded access to health insurance. A restructuring of the system will save some money, but more will be needed, and one proposal is to get it from a higher tax on the upper strata of income earners. Given income distribution trends over the past four decades, it is difficult not to support asking wealthier Americans for some help in closing the gap in our effort to give all Americans health insurance.
And these data also suggest that we must begin to think seriously about the policy shifts that have moved us back to creating a society that is less, not more, equal in terms of income distribution.”
http://www.slate.com/id/2223734/
The above article contains considerable statistics on income since 1976.

substandard care isn’t very Christian.
“Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” Uh, that must be, uh, written in someone’s holy book.

This activity really makes me sad, to see on both sides as we are lacking in full knowledge of how both sides really function. I used to write code and the secret to balancing all of this is getting the computer algorithms (formulas) to be accountable.
Yes, with a public plan those would be open source and available for all to see and view how we are evaluated, canceled, etc. With private insurance companies they run proprietary software with very complicated business intelligence software that projects and creates the data on the screens for decision making, and much of this is automated, so when the computer says….we all know what happens as those numbers are what leads to a decision process.
The numbers are going to get tougher, rates are going to rise and cherry picking will continue, as this is the risk management business which unfortunately forgets there are humans attached to those numbers.
It is a numbers and code war out there as computers work 24/7, humans don’t, but humans rely on the information presented to them on a computer screen for their decision. If that doesn’t work initially further algorithms are run to bring in additional numbers to add even more information. It is what it is and that is what is running the decision making processes.
There are numerous committees that work on certifying electronic medical records to be accurate and correct, and their algorithms have to be correct and integrate. My thoughts are the same with insurance, should they not have to be certified with the formulas and algorithms they run so they too are accountable from their end of the business? If you have missed it in the news there are numerous law suits right now going on over this exact issue with using a data base that used algorithms that miscalculated.
Thus it is time to have algorithmic centric laws that allow for transparency and accountability, in other words open source code so we can see how we are scored, graded and/or denied. If it is not spelled out in having applicable code attached to a bill, we have 1000s of words that bring work for the attorneys to interpret.
However it is done, proprietary algorithms with today’s move towards transparency need to be open source. Companies that provide anti fraud algorithmic data services can also cross the line when it comes to fraud and claims get denied for that exact reason if they are “scored” and appear to have a fraudulent appearance, when the algorithms are a little too tight to meet the parameters. This happens all the time today.
In summary, it’s time to get educated and smart and go to the ground where the decisions are made and hold all accountable instead of healthcare being like a box of chocolates in not knowing what you are going to get. Our Congress needs to get educated in some of this too whereby we can have true digital laws as that is the age we live in today so we can see the way the algorithms and formulas work and not be surprised.
Companies, many who are subsidiaries of insurance firms make big money with anti fraud software with a transaction fee on their processing of each claim, less money to go to actual healthcare.
It’s a war with computer code and business intelligence software that predicts and and analyzes for the decision making processes and our battle would be much better fought at that level instead of these highly emotional rallies that with frustrate individuals that do not understand the process.
The education process will cool tempers and allow for more intelligent interactions and hopefully laws to be created. I truly hate seeing all of this and predicted it myself about 2 years ago that healthcare would almost come short of riots in the US. Our medication information too is bought and sold from pharmacy benefit managers, so yes we are for sale too as this is not a covered entity of HIPAA, so there are companies who sell your medication history to insurance companies, and again that transaction fee that gets added in.
Town Hall meetings are less than adequate with offering little educational material and should be more than just a complaint department. On the other side, doctors have a ton of red tape and I have worked on the other side helping them recover payments that were denied after services were rendered. On doctor told me this week his compensation from one insurance company was reduced by 12% and his employer insurance for his employees went up 35%, so how do you win? They don’t get to see the algorithms that calculated this either?
However this rolls out, we do need open source algorithms and know up front what to expect on how the formulas run as they make millions for the industry today and we have too many falling through the cracks. I write quite a bit about this type of information at my blog to educate and bring an awareness into being. There’s a lot more to it when you add on the full impact of technology too, but that’s one more side of the coin. Thanks for letting me add my 2 cents here.
Barbara Duck, The Medical Quack

The pictures of the Tea Party protesters are not an accurate depiction of the actual event. Many or most signs were hateful and disrespectful. Where were all these people when President Bush was in office and took away their civil liberties? I tend to think race is playing a part in the protest. Healthcare Reform is so needed in this country. It is costing these protesters more in taxes not to have reform than it would to have it. People visiting the emergency rooms for their care is very costly, and when the patient puts off the visit and ends up admitted it is offensively expensive. Misinformation is another reason people are riled up. So many false claims have been made about any plan for reform that it is easy to see why people who participated in the protest are so paranoid. I fought and worked all my life to have insurance and now that I am about to lose COBRA, and have pre-existing conditions, breast cancer for one, am unable to work, tell me what is my alternative? Welfare? It is all so very unfair and frustrating that insurance companies will not cover me. I pray that God will heal our differences before it gets any worse. I am not ready to buy a gun, like the protesters at the big Tea Party and threaten our Government or anyone else. The author of this blog should think a little more about what she writes about and post the facts, not just a fairytale version.

I’m working to help cure glioblastoma multiforme, the previous administration kept NIH funding to constant levels to fund the Iraq war. Part of the stimulus and the budget increase that conservatives yowl about goes to an increase in NIH funding. It has been a struggle to keep scientific careers together and this country has lost a lot of younger talent as their careers collapsed. The “pro-life” party did this, diverted funds for cancer research into bullets and bombs. As I have debated tea baggers, most have told me that government funded research is a waste of tax payer money. I want them to tell that to the dying. Like Ezekiel Emanuel, most of the physicians I work closely with have lost almost every patient they have ever had, they only work on advanced and especially tough cases. None of them think that Sarah Palin and others on the right are informed or very helpful. I would like to know how many out in DC have had close experience with cancer. It’s god awful, I saw signs wishing Ted Kennedy’s disease on others. It’s not a video game, its a real disease that is 100% fatal. Early detection is only possible for most people if they have health insurance that covers office visits.
Michele, what are your solutions? I will be waiting and I don’t want your predestination infused garbage about God.

“The current bills do not provide for health care for all, millions will still not have health care after it’s passed.”
not for all, but for a great many more, including especially those who the private industry kick out.
*yawn*
tea baggers think they’re the cat’s meow. the revolution that you want already started and helped to elect this president of color to initiate a change of progressiveness in this country. the numbers who showed up to call obama a communist, a socialist, a nazi, a pig, or to voice any other illegitimate complaint are nothing like the droves of supporters who came to cheer obama on during the campaign.
we want health care reform, not a bunch of hypocritical whining conservatives. have your day of emotional catharsis. then we’ll pass health care reform and all these whining conservatives will come to find that we’re not a communist or socialist country after all. some will use the program (i’m thinking small business owners) and come to like it and depend on it, just like all of those hypocrites on social security and medicare, and won’t want life as it was before reform.

That lefty bit that guys finger off after the Reich-wing nutjob punched him first TWICE… something that is verified by your own right-wing media link lady.
Someone punches me first, I will gouge their eye out.

1.5 million to 2 million participants? What kind of world are you living in? Wasn’t even close to that – at most 60 to 70 thousands.
It doesn’t surprise me at all – you live in a fantasy world and believe in a fantasy god. Wake up and face reality and the world will become a better plce.

How on earth were there 1-2 million people there? I was at the inauguration which had over 1 million people and this was nothing, nothing at all, close to the inauguration. Where do you get the figure? Seriously?

“How on earth were there 1-2 million people there? I was at the inauguration which had over 1 million people and this was nothing, nothing at all, close to the inauguration. Where do you get the figure? Seriously? ”
I was only reporting what was reported. As you can see from the updates, I changed it when I heard the new figures.

I would hope then that you would create a link to fix your misinformation. (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/protest-crowd-size-estimate-falsely-attributed-abc-news/story?id=8558055). There is already enough misinformation on the internet.

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Patricia
http://dataentryjob-s.com

“in case you thought that this was some kind of Glenn Beck movement”
oh, i thought it was some kind of glenn beck movement because it was, not because your husband is a tea-bagger.